Wildlife Biologist

Some people speed through the suburbs and see only pricey stucco homes and tangled freeways wrapped around the foothills of Southern California. Biologist Kevin Crooks surveys the same landscape and envisions lifelines for wildlife. Crooks studies an Orange County map and imagines corridors where coyotes can glide at night. He views a mundane highway bridge as the perfect conduit for wandering mule deer.

It is very unfortunate that Esther Burkett, Orange County's state wildlife biologist for the California Department of Fish and Game, left her position in Orange County to accept a promotion in Sacramento ("A Rare Breed--The Outspoken Wildlife Biologist--Vanishes," March 11). Burkett's leaving will cause a temporary vacancy in the position of state wildlife biologist in Orange County. Such a vacancy will cause irreparable damage to wildlife and resources when up to 150 road and housing projects per month will be approved without much review.

Authorities confirmed Friday that a mountain lion killed 35-year-old cyclist Mark Reynolds, whose body was found shortly after another cougar attack along a popular trail in the rugged Orange County foothills. It is the sixth fatal mauling of a human by a mountain lion in California and the first since 1994. Deputies said Thursday night that they shot and killed the 110-pound mountain lion responsible for the attacks, but on Friday they weren't taking any chances.

Think of it as "The Crocodile Hunter"--but on a smaller scale. For the past several months, biologists from the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area have been climbing steep hills and lugging equipment through creeks to catalog the reptiles and amphibians that make their homes in the area. The National Park Service thinks about 35 species of reptiles and amphibians live in the mountains. Of those, 13 species are considered rare, threatened or endangered.

Mark Jennings, the Indiana Jones of the frog world, scaled two waterfalls to reach a remote canyon of the San Gabriel Mountains, only to find his worst nightmare confirmed. "Nice stream. No frogs," he said. A floppy felt hat shaded sunlight from his ruddy face. Big Mermaids Creek washed its cold waters around his boots. "It's not like they are hiding. They're just gone." Jennings, who works for the U.S.

A rabid bat discovered in a Westside backyard triggered a flurry of concerns Tuesday among county officials over a bat census to be conducted in Topanga Canyon. Concerned that bat counters might be exposed to rabies dangers, county health officials warned the Department of Public Works and other county officials. But biologists argued that there is no danger to the public or the bat census-takers.

Instead of enjoying cake and ice cream, Arthur Ochoa spent his 11th birthday Thursday hiking through the mountains, tracking animals and smelling sage and wildflowers. He and 59 other fifth-graders from Glenn L. Martin Elementary School in Santa Ana visited the 1,200-acre Rancho Mission Viejo Land Conservancy as part of the Junior Wildlife Biologist Program, which gives students hands-on exposure to wildlife biology. "There's a lot of interesting things that I haven't seen before," Ochoa said.

A third condor chick is believed to have hatched this week in Ventura County's back country, further demonstrating to biologists that their recovery efforts for the endangered birds are working. The egg had been monitored by biologists with the California Condor Recovery Plan for the last eight weeks and was hatched Tuesday near the Sespe Condor Sanctuary of the Los Padres National Forest, north of Fillmore.